About Me

My first book, "The Ten Commandments: How Our Most Ancient Moral Text Can Renew Modern Life," was published by Scribner in September 2010, and was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award. I am an American-born writer and editor living in Washington after spending almost two decades in Israel. In March 2013 I launched The Tower Magazine, a long-form, online monthly publication dedicated to deepening our understanding of Israel and the Middle East, published by The Israel Project. In September 2017, I took on the role of Executive Director at The Israel Innovation Fund, which launches new cultural projects in Israel.

Over the years, my writings have appeared in The New Republic, CNN.com, the Forward, Commentary, Moment, The Jewish Chronicle, The New York Sun, Policy Review, the Jerusalem Post, and others. I'm a contributing editor at The Forward, and have also blogged at Commentary Magazine. From 2004-2007, I served as editor-in-chief of Azure, Israel's leading journal of public affairs. I received my Ph.D. in Jewish Philosophy from the Hebrew University. I've focused my research on the thought of Eliezer Berkovits, including two major essays on his thought, and edited two volumes of Berkovits' writings. I also translated Emuna Elon's novel "If You Awaken Love," which was a finalist for the National Jewish Book Award in 2007, as well as Uri Bar-Joseph's "The Angel," a thrilling history of the life of Ashraf Marwan (HarperCollins, 2016).